grandstand
Americannoun
-
the main seating area of a stadium, racetrack, parade route, or the like, usually consisting of tiers with rows of individual seats.
-
the people sitting in these seats.
verb (used without object)
-
grandstands,
present (3rd person singular)
-
grandstanded,
past participle, past
-
grandstanding
present participle
adjective
-
situated in a grandstand.
grandstand seats.
-
having a vantage point resembling that of a grandstand.
From our office windows on the third floor, we had a grandstand view of the parade.
-
intended to impress an onlooker or onlookers.
a grandstand catch.
noun
-
-
a terraced block of seats, usually under a roof, commanding the best view at racecourses, football pitches, etc
-
( as modifier )
grandstand tickets
-
-
the spectators in a grandstand
-
(modifier) as if from a grandstand; unimpeded (esp in the phrase grandstand view )
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
grandstandsimple
-
grandstandssimple
-
have grandstandedperfect
-
has grandstandedperfect
-
am grandstandingprogressive
-
are grandstandingprogressive
-
is grandstandingprogressive
-
have been grandstandingperfect progressive
-
has been grandstandingperfect progressive
Past
-
grandstandedsimple
-
had grandstandedperfect
-
was grandstandingprogressive
-
were grandstandingprogressive
-
had been grandstandingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of grandstand
Explanation
As a noun, grandstand means a large seating area for sports spectators. As a verb, it means to show off. So if you dance around in a banana costume at the horse races, you grandstand in the grandstand. Tiered, covered seating at a racetrack or outdoor sports arena is one kind of grandstand. This word has been used since the mid-18th century, and in the late 1800s it was adapted into the baseball slang phrases grandstand player and grandstand play, which referred to theatrical, unnecessary moves athletes made simply to show off. These terms found their way into college slang around the same time, and grandstand became a common way to say "put on airs."
Vocabulary lists containing grandstand
We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
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The Mighty Miss Malone
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Displacement
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Not prepared to give up their quest for just a fifth win on New Zealand soil, France hit back when Jalibert's 78th-minute try set up a grandstand finish.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
And which provides better camera angles than you’d get from any grandstand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
The machines, which allow people to bet on past horse races in a slot-machine-type format, were put into the grandstand area of Santa Anita on Thursday with no notice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026
Lawrence Shankland cut the arrears 15 minutes from time before Cammy Devlin set up a grandstand finish.
From Barron's ● Dec. 27, 2025
It was a collection of sheds and tents and a grandstand for the harness racing.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
Anyone who has never attended the race may be left to wonder: With all the pomp in the grandstands, how does anyone get a clear glimpse of the finish line?
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
The cheapest tickets in the grandstands are around $35.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
Umbrellas are prohibited in the parade grandstands, and spectators are encouraged to leave them at home if they’re standing elsewhere along the route, said Candy Carlson, a spokesperson for the Tournament of Roses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
On Saturday the pair powered through a sustained shower of razz from the grandstands at the Ryder Cup on New York’s Long Island.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025
When they were sure that they had won, the boys rowed slowly past the grandstands to polite applause.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
And he has grandstanded constantly about Santos’ turpitude on TV.
From Slate ● Nov. 30, 2023
“Van Damme certainly grandstanded around the set – he let everyone know who the star was,” he recalls.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 16, 2018
"Performing for you is my life," Rivers grandstanded at the end, "and no one has the right to take it away from me."
From The Guardian ● Sep. 5, 2014
Worse, members of the committee grandstanded about the testimony, about Hill’s motives.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 26, 2014
You have grandstanded and posed as the debonair adventurer, until it’s come to be second nature.
From The Key to Yesterday by Charles Neville Buck
In fact, they also create ample opportunity for disruption, grandstanding and subterfuge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Responding to Reform's claims that the needs of minority communities matter more, she said: "I don't think this is a moment to pit white Britons against non-white Britons", and any "political grandstanding" should be rejected.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Instead, officials “chose grandstanding instead of the normal process” and arrested Williamson at home Wednesday, despite her being seriously ill and in need of a liver transplant, Scott said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2025
But it is so firmly grounded in truthful and complicated detail drawn from Mr. Dunne’s actual experience that it makes its powerful moral argument without any need for grandstanding or preaching.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025
He was grandstanding, Inej saw that, buying her time as she leapt over the slate shingles.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
